Question

You got a new credit card and spent $200 on the card last month. You forgot to make the payment on time and were assessed a $40 late fee. What is the late fee as a percentage of your balance?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

We can rewrite this problem as: What percent of $200 is $40?

First, lets call the percent we are looking for "p".

"Percent" or "%" means "out of 100" or "per 100", Therefore p% can be written as `p/100`.

When dealing with percents the word "of" means "times" or "to multiply".

Putting this altogether we can write this equation and solve for `n` while keeping the equation balanced:

`p/100 xx $200 = $40`

`color(red)(100)/color(blue)($200) xx p/100 xx $200 = color(red)(100)/color(blue)(200) xx $40`

`cancel(color(red)(100))/cancel(color(blue)($200)) xx p/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(100))) xx color(blue)(cancel(color(black)($200))) = color(red)(100)/color(blue)(color(black)(cancel(color(blue)($)))200) xx color(blue)(cancel(color(black)($)))40`

`p = 4000/200`

`p = 20`

The $40 late fee is `color(red)(20%)` of the $200 balance.